My 85 year old mother was paid a visit by a Portage County Tea Partier this past weekend. My mother said that the older Tea fellow reminded her of a Jehovah's Witness, only he seemed more agitated, even angry. Perhaps he was simply nervous, anxious.

He was handing out "voter guides" which had pictures of Tea Party recommended candidates on one side. The candidates were as follows: John Kasich for governor, Robert Owens for Ohio attorney general, Josh Mandel for Ohio treasurer, David Yost for state auditor, Jon Husted for secretary of state, W. Roak Zeller for 68th state house district, Todd McKenney for the 43rd district, Eugene Lucci for the Ohio 11th appellate court, Tommie Jo Marsillo for Portage County commissioner, and Janet Espositio, for Portage County auditor.

On the flip side of the voter guide, in big block letters at the top are these words: Forget the R and the D....Vote for the Tea Party Recommended Candidates!

How many of the pictured candidates on the voter guide are running as representatives of some other party other than the Republican Party? ZERO.

So what we have is a local political group telling voters to forget about the R's and the D's this election cycle.....ummm.....except for the R's the Portage Tea Partiers like. But no D's.

Demonstrating once again that Tea Partiers are simply another component of the Republican Party. More extremely conservative, perhaps, but still an appendage of the Republican Party. Otherwise, you would expect to find at least one non-Republican on their voter guide. At least one. Alas, no......only Republicans.

The rest of the week I'll be breaking down the list of "We Believe's"from the voter guide handout. I can assure you, I'm going to have a lot of fun doing so.

Anyway, coincidentally or not.....In this morning's Beacon Journal we find a letter to the editor from the Portage County Tea Party's executive director, Tom Zawistowski.

I'm sure that Mr. Zastistowski is a fine man, so don't mistake what I'm going to say next as a personal attack on him.

The Tea Party executive director says this in his letter to the editor.....

"If Obama or any other American hates the rich, then he or she has a psychological problem that needs medical attention."

Obama is part of the rich....just as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are part of the rich. All three of these rich men have been calling for allowing tax rates on the rich (on themselves) to roll back to Clinton-era levels. Does Mr. Zawistowski think that Gates and Buffet are also in dire need of "medical attention?" Are these three men all self-haters, self-loathers?

Furthermore, when the rich were paying higher taxes during the 90's and were continuing to get richer still, was it because Clinton and the Democrats simply hated the rich? And if so....doesn't it seem odd that the result of Clinton hating the rich was to make the rich....richer? I'm in need of some of that kind of hate.

The Portage Tea Party director goes on.....

I know a lot of small-business owners who make over $250,000 per year whose employees take home more pay than they do.

They are anything but rich, and despite Obama's arbitrary decision that they can afford it, they cannot. Those business owners should not have to pay a dime more in taxes than anyone else.

Excuse me for being a bit skeptical here. "A lot" of "employees" who work for "small business owners who make over $250K"...."take home more pay than they do." Really? I mean REALLY?

Reminds me of what I heard on Hannity yesterday. Some 30-something married woman called in to tell Hannity how she and her husband were having a difficult time "getting ahead" making just a bit under $200K per year. Cue the freaking violins.

But I digress. I do not accept Mr. Zawistowski's claim about knowing a lot of small business owners who make over $250K whose employees take home more than they do. I just think he is confused.

As we have learned, only about 2% of small business owners in the U.S. make $250K or more. Two per cent. Out of every 100 small businesses in Portage County, for example.....only 2 owners make more than $250K. Yet Zawistowski knows "lots" of small business owners making more than $250K.....and what's more, Zawistowski also knows that those "lots" make less than their own employees.

Sorry, I ain't buying it.

Finally, Mr. Zawiskowski, completes his own incredulous circle by insisting that small business owners, making more than $250K per year are....

"....anything but rich...."

The 2% of small business owners in the U.S. who make more than $250 K per year are also in the top 2% of income earners in the U.S. That makes them part of the richest 2% of Americans in...well...America.

Zawistowski insists that the people in the top 2% of U.S. income earners are "anything but rich."

Either Mr. Zawistowski has no idea what he is talking about.....or he is a Portage County spokesperson for the richest 2% of the country. One thing for sure.....he doesn't represent the average working family in my county, the average family who makes somewhere between $40-50K per year, you know, the ones who really, really are "anything but rich."